Paris
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Cities France Manet Monet < 1878 Caillebotte Renoir Pissarro Post war French art Groups Music and dance Sport in art Origins of sports Horse Self portrait Self portrait II Picasso < 1907
Chronology : 19th century 1870-1879 1877 1878 1897-1898 1897 1905
See also : Cities France Manet Monet < 1878 Caillebotte Renoir Pissarro Post war French art Groups Music and dance Sport in art Origins of sports Horse Self portrait Self portrait II Picasso < 1907
Chronology : 19th century 1870-1879 1877 1878 1897-1898 1897 1905
1872 Les Courses au Bois de Boulogne by Manet
2004 SOLD for $ 26.3M by Sotheby's
Edouard Manet and Edgar Degas have masterfully shaken up the classicism. Building on their predecessors, they find new ideas for staging and colors.
Manet easily entered into artist circles. He enjoys social life and does not wait for the recognition of the Salons. His themes are unlimited. Before him, Courbet went already complacently up to the scandal. Baudelaire and then Zola recognize the originality of his approach.
On May 5, 2004, Sotheby's sold for $ 26.3M Les Courses au Bois de Boulogne, oil on canvas 73 x 94 cm painted in 1872 by Manet, lot 13, from the collection of one of the most famous owners of racehorses, John Hay Whitney. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The artist skillfully mixed observation and imitation. It seems that the topography of the Longchamp racecourse was painted on the spot.
Manet had demonstrated a few years earlier in his first bullfighting scenes that a direct participation in the event was not essential, since he could rely on Goya. Here the horses in full gallop all fly with their four legs lifted, as in the Epsom Derby painted by Géricault in 1821, acquired by the Louvre in 1866. The imperturbable position of the jockeys in full race is not realistic : the sporting effort was obviously not appreciated by Manet.
Manet's painting is however very modern. The track and the lawn are aquamarine blue, highlighting the contrasts in a freedom of colors that anticipates expressionism for several decades. The distance of the subjects is marked by an increasing blur, as if it were a photograph focused on the action in progress in the foreground. This artifice provides the whole composition with an effect of depth, different from the solutions sought by his impressionist friends.
Manet easily entered into artist circles. He enjoys social life and does not wait for the recognition of the Salons. His themes are unlimited. Before him, Courbet went already complacently up to the scandal. Baudelaire and then Zola recognize the originality of his approach.
On May 5, 2004, Sotheby's sold for $ 26.3M Les Courses au Bois de Boulogne, oil on canvas 73 x 94 cm painted in 1872 by Manet, lot 13, from the collection of one of the most famous owners of racehorses, John Hay Whitney. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The artist skillfully mixed observation and imitation. It seems that the topography of the Longchamp racecourse was painted on the spot.
Manet had demonstrated a few years earlier in his first bullfighting scenes that a direct participation in the event was not essential, since he could rely on Goya. Here the horses in full gallop all fly with their four legs lifted, as in the Epsom Derby painted by Géricault in 1821, acquired by the Louvre in 1866. The imperturbable position of the jockeys in full race is not realistic : the sporting effort was obviously not appreciated by Manet.
Manet's painting is however very modern. The track and the lawn are aquamarine blue, highlighting the contrasts in a freedom of colors that anticipates expressionism for several decades. The distance of the subjects is marked by an increasing blur, as if it were a photograph focused on the action in progress in the foreground. This artifice provides the whole composition with an effect of depth, different from the solutions sought by his impressionist friends.
1876 Bal du Moulin de la Galette by RENOIR
1
masterpiece
Musée d'Orsay
In 1863 Charles Gleyre admonishes Monet because he does not follow the model of the antique. Bringing with him three friends, Sisley, Renoir and Bazille, Monet slams the door and manages to paint outdoors.
Their temperaments are different. They are young and tempted by the good life of dancing balls. While Monet is overtaken by his wife, Renoir expresses the carefree joie de vivre of the groups to which he applies the impressionist style. Le Bal du Moulin de la Galette in 1876 and Le Déjeuner des Canotiers, exhibited in 1882, are among the most important masterpieces of painting.
Renoir painted two identical versions of the Moulin de la Galette. The largest, 131 x 175 cm, became the property of the French State through the Caillebotte bequest and is currently at the Musée d'Orsay. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Grok response :
Quote
Musée d'Orsay @MuseeOrsay Jun 1, 2020
Dans notre collection @googlearts, vous pouvez explorer le "Bal du moulin de la Galette" de Renoir dans ses moindres détails grâce au zoom #gigapixel. Pour vous plonger dans ce chef-d'oeuvre de l'impressionnisme, c'est ici : https://bit.ly/MoulinGalette_Gigapixel…
Their temperaments are different. They are young and tempted by the good life of dancing balls. While Monet is overtaken by his wife, Renoir expresses the carefree joie de vivre of the groups to which he applies the impressionist style. Le Bal du Moulin de la Galette in 1876 and Le Déjeuner des Canotiers, exhibited in 1882, are among the most important masterpieces of painting.
Renoir painted two identical versions of the Moulin de la Galette. The largest, 131 x 175 cm, became the property of the French State through the Caillebotte bequest and is currently at the Musée d'Orsay. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Grok response :
Quote
Musée d'Orsay @MuseeOrsay Jun 1, 2020
Dans notre collection @googlearts, vous pouvez explorer le "Bal du moulin de la Galette" de Renoir dans ses moindres détails grâce au zoom #gigapixel. Pour vous plonger dans ce chef-d'oeuvre de l'impressionnisme, c'est ici : https://bit.ly/MoulinGalette_Gigapixel…
- The X post by @MuseeOrsay
features a detailed zoom-in video of Auguste Renoir's "Bal du moulin de la Galette," a pivotal work from 1876 that captures the lively atmosphere of a popular dance hall in Montmartre, Paris, and was showcased at the 1877 Impressionist exhibition, highlighting Renoir's focus on social scenes and light. - The video leverages Google Arts & Culture's gigapixel technology, allowing viewers to explore intricate details of the painting, such as brushstrokes and textures, which is particularly significant given the painting's status as a cornerstone of Impressionism, emphasizing the movement's technique of capturing fleeting moments with loose brushwork.
- This approach not only educates the public about the technical aspects of Impressionist art but also aligns with modern digital tools that enhance art accessibility, reflecting a broader trend in cultural institutions using technology to engage audiences, as evidenced by studies showing increased visitor interaction with digital art platforms.
2
1990 SOLD for $ 78 M by Sotheby's
The other version is an oil on canvas 78 x 114 cm damaged by folding. Coming from the Whitney collection, it was sold for $ 78M from a lower estimate of $ 40M by Sotheby's on May 17, 1990. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The buyer was a Japanese collector named Ryoei Saito, who had acquired the Portrait of Dr Gachet by Van Gogh two days earlier at Christies for $ 82M. Saito creates some terror in the art world by announcing that at his death he will be cremated with the two paintings to avoid that enormous inheritance rights are required to his heirs.
Saito died in 1996. His threat was not carried out because his wealth had turned down and the artworks were sequestered by his creditors, but the two paintings were never seen again. The Van Gogh was reportedly located in 2007 in the collection of an Austrian financier who has since gone bankrupt.
Grok response :
Quote
Clown @ClownsTrenches Apr 27
Bal du moulin de la Galette – Pierre-Auguste Renoir Price: $78.1 million (1990, Sotheby’s Auction)
The buyer was a Japanese collector named Ryoei Saito, who had acquired the Portrait of Dr Gachet by Van Gogh two days earlier at Christies for $ 82M. Saito creates some terror in the art world by announcing that at his death he will be cremated with the two paintings to avoid that enormous inheritance rights are required to his heirs.
Saito died in 1996. His threat was not carried out because his wealth had turned down and the artworks were sequestered by his creditors, but the two paintings were never seen again. The Van Gogh was reportedly located in 2007 in the collection of an Austrian financier who has since gone bankrupt.
Grok response :
Quote
Clown @ClownsTrenches Apr 27
Bal du moulin de la Galette – Pierre-Auguste Renoir Price: $78.1 million (1990, Sotheby’s Auction)
- The painting "Bal du moulin de la Galette" by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, featured in the post, captures a lively 1876 Parisian dance scene and sold for $78.1 million in 1990, reflecting its status as a cornerstone of Impressionism and a record price at the time for a Renoir work.
- Historical context reveals Renoir set up a studio near Montmartre’s Moulin de la Galette to paint this, using local models like Estelle Samary, after failing to convince her sister Jeanne, highlighting the social dynamics and artistic challenges of the era.
- Art market data from Sotheby’s and recent auctions, like the ₹355.77 crore South Asian art sale in 2025, suggest Renoir’s work continues to influence high-value art trends, though its 1990 sale price adjusted for inflation exceeds $180 million today, outpacing many modern records.
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1876 Paris by CAILLEBOTTE
1
masterpiece
1876 Le Pont de l'Europe
Musée du Petit Palais, Genève
Paris is completely transformed during the Second Empire. For security reasons, Napoléon III entrusted to Haussmann the gigantic task of ridding the city from its dense pattern of unhealthy streets. Haussmann cuts into the urban fabric to create wide and straight avenues, lined with tall buildings on a unique model with long balconies.
Born in Paris in 1848, Gustave Caillebotte knew and appreciated such a breakthrough. In 1875 the young artist became an Impressionniste after his resentment of the Salon's rejection of a too social painting. He has the imagination for finding new themes.
Another wonder of the time is the railroad. In 1876 Caillebotte paints two views of the pont de l'Europe, a very long railway viaduct completed in 1868 with a prominent truss that connects to the Gare Saint-Lazare. These views are in full opposition from one another in terms of composition and color.
The summer view, oil on canvas 125 x 180 cm, was showed in 1877 at the 3rd Impressionist exhibition. It was preceded by at least six oil sketches. It displays a bright sun light. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Monet devoted the winter of 1877 to his series of paintings of this station, the terminus of the line that led him to Argenteuil. He worked from an apartment of which Caillebotte paid the rent.
Born in Paris in 1848, Gustave Caillebotte knew and appreciated such a breakthrough. In 1875 the young artist became an Impressionniste after his resentment of the Salon's rejection of a too social painting. He has the imagination for finding new themes.
Another wonder of the time is the railroad. In 1876 Caillebotte paints two views of the pont de l'Europe, a very long railway viaduct completed in 1868 with a prominent truss that connects to the Gare Saint-Lazare. These views are in full opposition from one another in terms of composition and color.
The summer view, oil on canvas 125 x 180 cm, was showed in 1877 at the 3rd Impressionist exhibition. It was preceded by at least six oil sketches. It displays a bright sun light. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Monet devoted the winter of 1877 to his series of paintings of this station, the terminus of the line that led him to Argenteuil. He worked from an apartment of which Caillebotte paid the rent.
2
Jeune Homme à sa Fenêtre
2021 SOLD for $ 53M by Christie's
Born in Paris to a family of wealthy bourgeois, Gustave Caillebotte graduated in law but could manage his life like a spare time. He took an interest in painting and made many friends in the avant-gardes. He was a keen visitor in 1874 of the exhibition afterward known as the Première exposition des peintres impressionnistes.
The young artists were innovating in the brush stroke, but also in the themes. Monet managed to display some instantaneous views of daily realism that went against the expectations of the official Salons. Un Coin d'appartement, painted by Monet in 1875, was acquired by Caillebotte whom it certainly deeply influenced.
In 1876 Caillebotte is invited to participate in the Seconde exposition des peintres impressionnistes. He hangs eight paintings including his masterpiece Les Raboteurs de parquet that does not feature the bourgeois but an instantaneous of three workers preparing the floor in a bourgeois apartment. This picture had of course been refused by the Salon for its ordinary theme in the previous year.
Another scene exhibited by Caillebotte at the Seconde exposition is Jeune Homme à sa fenêtre, mingling the keen interests of the artist for his family and for the bourgeois comfort of the districts recently rebuilt by Haussmann. It features his younger brother René from back, standing at the balcony of the family's apartment to have a look towards the rue de Miromesnil and its sparse pedestrians.
This oil on canvas 116 x 81 cm painted in 1876 was sold for $ 53M by Christie's on November 11, 2021, lot 23C. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The sun bathed rue de Miromesnil is rendered here in a highly realistic brush stroke. Now entered in the Impressionniste group, Caillebotte will then keenly use their style of painting and be instrumental in promoting their exhibitions.
L'Homme au balcon boulevard Haussmann, oil on canvas 117 x 90 cm painted in 1880, is a similar composition from an elevated point executed with an impressionist brushstroke in the trees. It has been sold for $ 14.3M by Christie's on May 8, 2000, lot 8.
Response by Grok :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc Nov 12, 2021
#AuctionUpdate: Gustave Caillebotte's (1848-1894) 'Jeune homme à sa fenêtre' realized $53,030,000 at auction, setting a #WorldAuctionRecord for the artist.
The young artists were innovating in the brush stroke, but also in the themes. Monet managed to display some instantaneous views of daily realism that went against the expectations of the official Salons. Un Coin d'appartement, painted by Monet in 1875, was acquired by Caillebotte whom it certainly deeply influenced.
In 1876 Caillebotte is invited to participate in the Seconde exposition des peintres impressionnistes. He hangs eight paintings including his masterpiece Les Raboteurs de parquet that does not feature the bourgeois but an instantaneous of three workers preparing the floor in a bourgeois apartment. This picture had of course been refused by the Salon for its ordinary theme in the previous year.
Another scene exhibited by Caillebotte at the Seconde exposition is Jeune Homme à sa fenêtre, mingling the keen interests of the artist for his family and for the bourgeois comfort of the districts recently rebuilt by Haussmann. It features his younger brother René from back, standing at the balcony of the family's apartment to have a look towards the rue de Miromesnil and its sparse pedestrians.
This oil on canvas 116 x 81 cm painted in 1876 was sold for $ 53M by Christie's on November 11, 2021, lot 23C. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The sun bathed rue de Miromesnil is rendered here in a highly realistic brush stroke. Now entered in the Impressionniste group, Caillebotte will then keenly use their style of painting and be instrumental in promoting their exhibitions.
L'Homme au balcon boulevard Haussmann, oil on canvas 117 x 90 cm painted in 1880, is a similar composition from an elevated point executed with an impressionist brushstroke in the trees. It has been sold for $ 14.3M by Christie's on May 8, 2000, lot 8.
Response by Grok :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc Nov 12, 2021
#AuctionUpdate: Gustave Caillebotte's (1848-1894) 'Jeune homme à sa fenêtre' realized $53,030,000 at auction, setting a #WorldAuctionRecord for the artist.
- The painting "Jeune homme à la fenêtre" by Gustave Caillebotte, auctioned for $53,030,000 in 2021, depicts his brother René from behind, a poignant detail given René's death months later, reflecting the artist's early exploration of urban realism and perspective, as noted in a 2023 Getty Museum study on Impressionist emotional depth.
- This record-breaking sale surpassed the previous high of $22 million for Caillebotte’s work, signaling a 141% value surge in four years, a trend supported by a 2022 Art Basel report attributing such spikes to growing demand for overlooked Impressionist works amid global economic uncertainty.
- The artwork’s 1876 debut at the Impressionist exhibition, alongside the controversial "Les Raboteurs de parquet," challenged Salon norms, a move later validated by art historians who, in a 2024 JSTOR analysis, credit Caillebotte with bridging Romanticism and modern urban themes.
1877 Gare Saint-Lazare by MONET
Intro
Young people of all times are tempted by modern life. Monet is soon disillusioned. He had desired to maintain in Argenteuil his corner of paradise, a residence in the countryside for which the railway is the link with the big city and its progress. Urbanization reaches Argenteuil. He feels the need to take a decision.
In 1876 Monet lost his enthusiasm for Argenteuil. He spends the last months of that year in a more rural atmosphere in Montgeron for the decoration of the Hoschedé residence. Just back from Montgeron he left for Paris with an authorization from the railway administration to work inside the Gare Saint-Lazare.
From January to March 1877 he made a sort of report composed of twelve artworks, four inside the station and eight outside, in varied weather conditions. A passer-by narrated that he saw Claude Monet perched on a stack of crates with his brush in his hand, feverishly waiting for the ambient light to match his expectations.
The choice of this theme is unexpected for this artist but is certainly not a self attempt to be disgusted from the smokes of the city. A better hypothesis is that Monet considered himself as a leader of the new outdoor painting and did not want to be overcome by the urban pictures of Caillebotte and Manet.
Monet painted twelve canvases showing the interior with the platforms or the outside with trains coming or leaving. The result of this creativity is significant. The nauseating smoke of trains mingles with a heavily loaded sky and makes you want to run away.
Indeed when the third exhibition of the Impressionnistes opened in April 1877 his Saint-Lazare series was already completed and it featured prominently in his selection.
His Gares Saint-Lazare will remain forever an unparalleled set. For the very last time he had tried to illustrate the progress. For nearly half a century he will stubbornly devote to landscapes, to monuments and to his garden.
In 1876 Monet lost his enthusiasm for Argenteuil. He spends the last months of that year in a more rural atmosphere in Montgeron for the decoration of the Hoschedé residence. Just back from Montgeron he left for Paris with an authorization from the railway administration to work inside the Gare Saint-Lazare.
From January to March 1877 he made a sort of report composed of twelve artworks, four inside the station and eight outside, in varied weather conditions. A passer-by narrated that he saw Claude Monet perched on a stack of crates with his brush in his hand, feverishly waiting for the ambient light to match his expectations.
The choice of this theme is unexpected for this artist but is certainly not a self attempt to be disgusted from the smokes of the city. A better hypothesis is that Monet considered himself as a leader of the new outdoor painting and did not want to be overcome by the urban pictures of Caillebotte and Manet.
Monet painted twelve canvases showing the interior with the platforms or the outside with trains coming or leaving. The result of this creativity is significant. The nauseating smoke of trains mingles with a heavily loaded sky and makes you want to run away.
Indeed when the third exhibition of the Impressionnistes opened in April 1877 his Saint-Lazare series was already completed and it featured prominently in his selection.
His Gares Saint-Lazare will remain forever an unparalleled set. For the very last time he had tried to illustrate the progress. For nearly half a century he will stubbornly devote to landscapes, to monuments and to his garden.
1
2018 SOLD for $ 33M by Christie's
Only one of the twelve paintings, 61 x 81 cm, escapes Monet's pessimism thanks to a bright sunshine. The view is taken towards the double tunnel of the Batignolles. On the left the smoke is a fairly sharp cone. On the right the train has not yet come out and its smoke is diffused in all directions in the square, creating a veil in the atmosphere of clear weather.
In the best tradition of early Impressionnisme, this painting offers an ambience through which we can almost perceive heat and smell. Rockefeller did not make a mistake when he bought it. He liked this artwork very much while noting that the asking price had seemed high. It was sold for $ 33M by Christie's on May 8, 2018, lot 26. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
In the best tradition of early Impressionnisme, this painting offers an ambience through which we can almost perceive heat and smell. Rockefeller did not make a mistake when he bought it. He liked this artwork very much while noting that the asking price had seemed high. It was sold for $ 33M by Christie's on May 8, 2018, lot 26. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
2
2018 SOLD for £ 25M by Christie's
On June 20, 2018, Christie's sold for £ 25M an outdoor view, oil on canvas 61 x 81 cm, lot 25 B. The foreground is intentionally empty to draw a better attention to the background where the thick steam from the trains mingle in a cloudy sky. The two locomotives and the tall arches of the glass roofs of the station provide the illusion of a picturesque instantaneous.
The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The image is shared by Wikimedia.
1878 Fête de la Paix
1
Rue Mosnier aux Drapeaux by Manet
1989 SOLD for $ 26.4M by Christie's
A keen Republican and a friend of Zola, Edouard Manet was appealed by the depiction of daily life with its pleasures and pains.
After the Franco-Prussian war and the Commune, the Troisième République was established, endeavoring to bring back peace and prosperity. From May to October 1878 in Paris, the Exposition Universelle is the showcase of that recovery.
A Fête de la Paix is inserted in the calendar of the Exposition at June 30 to honor the French Republic. It is an opportunity to let crowds occupy the streets and to hang from the windows the French tricolore flag. Two years later the feast becomes yearly and national and is transferred to Bastille day.
Monet and Manet represented the feast in an opposite style. Monet's Rue Montorgueil is a masterpiece of Impressionnisme, intermingling the atmosphere of the feast with the colors of innumerable flags.
Manet's depiction is not festive but social. The rue Mosnier was painted from Manet's studio window. It is only occupied by sparse horse carriages with bourgeois at mid and far distances. and a disabled man in the foreground, behind a ladder carried by a worker out of field. The one legged beggar in a difficult walk with crutches symbolizes the ravages of war. The top down view reveals a garbage area behind a fence.
Rue Mosnier aux drapeaux, oil on canvas 65 x 80 cm, was sold for $ 26.4M by Christie's on November 14, 1989. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
After the Franco-Prussian war and the Commune, the Troisième République was established, endeavoring to bring back peace and prosperity. From May to October 1878 in Paris, the Exposition Universelle is the showcase of that recovery.
A Fête de la Paix is inserted in the calendar of the Exposition at June 30 to honor the French Republic. It is an opportunity to let crowds occupy the streets and to hang from the windows the French tricolore flag. Two years later the feast becomes yearly and national and is transferred to Bastille day.
Monet and Manet represented the feast in an opposite style. Monet's Rue Montorgueil is a masterpiece of Impressionnisme, intermingling the atmosphere of the feast with the colors of innumerable flags.
Manet's depiction is not festive but social. The rue Mosnier was painted from Manet's studio window. It is only occupied by sparse horse carriages with bourgeois at mid and far distances. and a disabled man in the foreground, behind a ladder carried by a worker out of field. The one legged beggar in a difficult walk with crutches symbolizes the ravages of war. The top down view reveals a garbage area behind a fence.
Rue Mosnier aux drapeaux, oil on canvas 65 x 80 cm, was sold for $ 26.4M by Christie's on November 14, 1989. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
2
for reference
Rue Montorgueil by Monet
Musée d'Orsay
The image is shared by Wikimedia.
1897 Boulevard Montmartre by Pissarro
2014 SOLD for £ 19.7M by Sotheby's
Linked with the greatest French painters of his time, Camille Pissarro had however a deeply independent temperament. Close to the anarchists, he looked for an original way that is not the realism of Corot or the pointillism of Seurat, two styles that he once seriously tried.
Considered now as one of the founders of Impressionism, he rather was one of its last precursors. Living in Pontoise and later in Eragny-sur-Epte, he painted local themes : the village, the river, the orchards, the peasants. Close to nature, he observes the beautiful colors that vary according to season, time and sky. The Impressionist technique of restoring the shades without using lines matches perfectly his artistic quest.
The Impressionist group did not survive the secession of Seurat and Signac in 1886. Over rivalries and disputes, Pissarro was the only one to have participated in all the exhibitions.
Durand-Ruel is not discouraged. He had supported the movement since the first hour and organized their second exhibition in his gallery in 1876. Threatened by bankruptcy, he keeps his impressionist paintings because nobody wants them. He finds the solution by organizing permanent or temporary exhibitions in London and New York. Collectors are becoming interested in Monet and Renoir.
During the winter of 1890-1891, the theme of the Meules by Monet became a series, although it was not originally intended as such by the artist. The breakthrough of this new phase of Impressionism is the series of Peupliers in 1891 and the three series of Cathédrales de Rouen begun in 1892 : Monet keeps the same composition from one work to another for expressing the variations of light.
The new success of Impressionism finally reaches Pissarro, installed since 1884 at Eragny-sur-Epte where he tirelessly paints the rural atmosphere. Unlike Monet, Pissarro does not reject the modern urban animation.
Pissarro is feeling at that time to be the last guarantor of the impressionist purity against the younger generation of Signac and Bonnard. Nevertheless Monet and Pissarro are not rivals but good friends. In 1892 Pissarro had taken a loan from Monet for buying the house he was renting in Eragny.
After a discussion with Durand-Ruel, Pissarro begins executing views of Paris. At that time eye problems restricted him to painting from his window, away from dust, wind, and direct sun. Leaving a pied-à-terre in Montmartre, he put up in 1893 at the Hôtel-Restaurant de Rome for two small series of the rue Saint-Lazare and of the place du Havre from his room window.
La Rue Saint-Lazare, temps lumineux is a winter view of the Haussmannian Paris much animated in a multiplicity of activities with walkers and with horse drawn carriages including a bus à impériale, in a class mingling that matches his anarchist feelings. This vertical oil on canvas 73 x 60 cm is painted in a divisionist technique in hundreds of hues applied in comma like strokes. It was sold for $ 12.4M by Christie's on November 11, 2018, lot 10A.
For a second series of views of Paris, he moves in February 1897 to the Grand Hôtel de Russie. Throughout several weeks he observes through the window the whole perspective of the boulevard Montmartre, with its interminable double procession of carriages, the walkers on the sidewalk, the reappearance of the leaves in early spring, the gas burners to illuminate the night.
Pissarro painted fourteen oils on canvas in an identical topography. He indeed knows to capture the essence of a moment.
His spring morning with the gas nozzle still lit, the shy sun onto the wet street and the early leaves that do not hide the branches is one of the best views of the series. This oil on canvas 65 x 81 cm was sold for £ 19.7M from a lower estimate of £ 7M by Sotheby's on February 5, 2014, lot 43. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Fin de journée, 54 x 65 cm, was sold for £ 7.1M by Sotheby's on June 19, 2019, lot 9.
He also made cityscape series of Rouen, Dieppe and Le Havre. As a witness of human animation in cities Pissarro is a major link between the Venetian vedutisti and LS Lowry.
Considered now as one of the founders of Impressionism, he rather was one of its last precursors. Living in Pontoise and later in Eragny-sur-Epte, he painted local themes : the village, the river, the orchards, the peasants. Close to nature, he observes the beautiful colors that vary according to season, time and sky. The Impressionist technique of restoring the shades without using lines matches perfectly his artistic quest.
The Impressionist group did not survive the secession of Seurat and Signac in 1886. Over rivalries and disputes, Pissarro was the only one to have participated in all the exhibitions.
Durand-Ruel is not discouraged. He had supported the movement since the first hour and organized their second exhibition in his gallery in 1876. Threatened by bankruptcy, he keeps his impressionist paintings because nobody wants them. He finds the solution by organizing permanent or temporary exhibitions in London and New York. Collectors are becoming interested in Monet and Renoir.
During the winter of 1890-1891, the theme of the Meules by Monet became a series, although it was not originally intended as such by the artist. The breakthrough of this new phase of Impressionism is the series of Peupliers in 1891 and the three series of Cathédrales de Rouen begun in 1892 : Monet keeps the same composition from one work to another for expressing the variations of light.
The new success of Impressionism finally reaches Pissarro, installed since 1884 at Eragny-sur-Epte where he tirelessly paints the rural atmosphere. Unlike Monet, Pissarro does not reject the modern urban animation.
Pissarro is feeling at that time to be the last guarantor of the impressionist purity against the younger generation of Signac and Bonnard. Nevertheless Monet and Pissarro are not rivals but good friends. In 1892 Pissarro had taken a loan from Monet for buying the house he was renting in Eragny.
After a discussion with Durand-Ruel, Pissarro begins executing views of Paris. At that time eye problems restricted him to painting from his window, away from dust, wind, and direct sun. Leaving a pied-à-terre in Montmartre, he put up in 1893 at the Hôtel-Restaurant de Rome for two small series of the rue Saint-Lazare and of the place du Havre from his room window.
La Rue Saint-Lazare, temps lumineux is a winter view of the Haussmannian Paris much animated in a multiplicity of activities with walkers and with horse drawn carriages including a bus à impériale, in a class mingling that matches his anarchist feelings. This vertical oil on canvas 73 x 60 cm is painted in a divisionist technique in hundreds of hues applied in comma like strokes. It was sold for $ 12.4M by Christie's on November 11, 2018, lot 10A.
For a second series of views of Paris, he moves in February 1897 to the Grand Hôtel de Russie. Throughout several weeks he observes through the window the whole perspective of the boulevard Montmartre, with its interminable double procession of carriages, the walkers on the sidewalk, the reappearance of the leaves in early spring, the gas burners to illuminate the night.
Pissarro painted fourteen oils on canvas in an identical topography. He indeed knows to capture the essence of a moment.
His spring morning with the gas nozzle still lit, the shy sun onto the wet street and the early leaves that do not hide the branches is one of the best views of the series. This oil on canvas 65 x 81 cm was sold for £ 19.7M from a lower estimate of £ 7M by Sotheby's on February 5, 2014, lot 43. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Fin de journée, 54 x 65 cm, was sold for £ 7.1M by Sotheby's on June 19, 2019, lot 9.
He also made cityscape series of Rouen, Dieppe and Le Havre. As a witness of human animation in cities Pissarro is a major link between the Venetian vedutisti and LS Lowry.
Le Boulevard Montmartre by Pissarro. Compare Matinée de printemps (sold by Sotheby's on February 5, 2014, lot 43) and Fin de journée (sold by Sotheby's on June 19, 2019, lot 9). Significance in the artist's career.
The Boulevard Montmartre Series by Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro painted his renowned Boulevard Montmartre series in 1897 from a room in the Grand Hôtel de Russie in Paris. The series consists of 14 canvases (plus a few related views) depicting the same bustling urban vista at different times of day, weather conditions, and seasons. This systematic exploration of light, atmosphere, and movement echoes Claude Monet's series (e.g., Haystacks or Rouen Cathedral) but focuses on the modern Parisian cityscape reshaped by Baron Haussmann's renovations.
Comparison: Matinée de printemps (1897) and Fin de journée (1897)
Both paintings share the identical viewpoint looking down the Boulevard Montmartre, capturing horse-drawn carriages, pedestrians, trees, and grand buildings in Pissarro's lively Impressionist style with rapid, dappled brushstrokes conveying energy and transience.
Auction History
Though best known for rural landscapes and mentoring younger Impressionists (e.g., Cézanne, Gauguin), Pissarro shifted to urban series in the 1890s due to failing eyesight, which made plein-air work difficult. The Boulevard Montmartre series—along with later views of the Avenue de l'Opéra and Tuileries—marked a pivotal late-career triumph, establishing him as Impressionism's foremost painter of modern Paris. Critics and exhibitions (e.g., 1992–93 retrospective) hail it as his most innovative urban achievement, rivaling Monet's series in capturing fleeting effects while celebrating the vitality of fin-de-siècle city life. It reaffirmed his relevance in his final years (he died in 1903) and influenced perceptions of Impressionism's engagement with modernity.
The Boulevard Montmartre Series by Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro painted his renowned Boulevard Montmartre series in 1897 from a room in the Grand Hôtel de Russie in Paris. The series consists of 14 canvases (plus a few related views) depicting the same bustling urban vista at different times of day, weather conditions, and seasons. This systematic exploration of light, atmosphere, and movement echoes Claude Monet's series (e.g., Haystacks or Rouen Cathedral) but focuses on the modern Parisian cityscape reshaped by Baron Haussmann's renovations.
Comparison: Matinée de printemps (1897) and Fin de journée (1897)
Both paintings share the identical viewpoint looking down the Boulevard Montmartre, capturing horse-drawn carriages, pedestrians, trees, and grand buildings in Pissarro's lively Impressionist style with rapid, dappled brushstrokes conveying energy and transience.
- Le Boulevard Montmartre, matinée de printemps ("Spring Morning"):
This depicts a fresh spring morning with soft, diffused sunlight and emerging greenery on the trees. The palette features vibrant greens, yellows, blues, and pinks, evoking optimism and renewal. The scene feels bright and lively, with a sense of awakening urban activity. Pissarro particularly favored this work, intending it for an international exhibition. - Le Boulevard Montmartre, fin de journée ("End of Day" or "Late Afternoon/Setting Sun"):
This captures the warm glow of late afternoon or early evening sunlight, with the street and trees bathed in golden-orange hues. The light creates long shadows, a softer diffusion, and a tranquil yet winding-down atmosphere amid lingering bustle. The palette shifts to warmer tones—pinks, oranges, and pale blues in the sky—contrasting the morning's freshness with a sense of closure.
- Lighting and mood — Morning version: crisp, invigorating daylight symbolizing beginnings; End-of-day version: warmer, fading light evoking calm and transition to evening.
- Color and atmosphere — Cooler, vibrant tones in spring morning vs. warmer, glowing hues in late day.
- Activity — Both show bustling traffic, but the end-of-day feels slightly more subdued due to shadows and softening light.
Auction History
- Matinée de printemps sold at Sotheby's London (February 5, 2014, lot 43) for £19.68 million (then ~$32 million), setting a record for Pissarro. It had a poignant provenance, looted by Nazis from Jewish collector Max Silberberg and restituted in 2000.
- Fin de journée sold at Sotheby's London (June 19, 2019, lot 9) under a settlement related to another forced sale during the Nazi era.
Though best known for rural landscapes and mentoring younger Impressionists (e.g., Cézanne, Gauguin), Pissarro shifted to urban series in the 1890s due to failing eyesight, which made plein-air work difficult. The Boulevard Montmartre series—along with later views of the Avenue de l'Opéra and Tuileries—marked a pivotal late-career triumph, establishing him as Impressionism's foremost painter of modern Paris. Critics and exhibitions (e.g., 1992–93 retrospective) hail it as his most innovative urban achievement, rivaling Monet's series in capturing fleeting effects while celebrating the vitality of fin-de-siècle city life. It reaffirmed his relevance in his final years (he died in 1903) and influenced perceptions of Impressionism's engagement with modernity.
1905 Au Lapin Agile by Picasso
1989 SOLD for $ 41M by Sotheby's
Cabarets had a preponderant place in Picasso's youth. It is indeed at the 4 Gats in Barcelona that he feels the desire to have a bohemian life in Montmartre.
Le Lapin Agile is perfectly located in the heart of Montmartre, rue des Saules. Before 1900 its reputation had been sordid. Its name is a pun on the sign created by the cartoonist André Gill showing a happy rabbit jumping out of a pan.
Picasso arrives in Paris at the time when a new steward nicknamed Frédé organizes evenings in this cabaret during which poets, comedians and artists from Montmartre play music, sing, recite poems, chat with conviviality. Frédé plays guitar and cello.
Au Lapin Agile is an oil on canvas 100 x 100 cm painted by Picasso in 1905 on a commission from Frédé. Pablo prepares it in the graphic style of Toulouse-Lautrec's posters, without any style link either with the blue period or with the pink period. It was sold for $ 41M by Sotheby's on November 27, 1989.
The couple in the foreground, seated in front of glasses of wine, is made up of Picasso dressed as a Harlequin and of Germaine, the woman who had rejected Casagemas but was probably Pablo's mistress throughout the blue period. Behind them, Frédé plays the guitar.
Picasso's painting hung on the wall of the cabaret until 1912. It was therefore a silent witness of the most famous hoax in the history of art.
In 1910 on the cabaret terrace, the writer Roland Dorgelès accompanied by an accomplice attaches brushes to the tail of Lolo, Frédé's donkey. In the presence of a bailiff, they dip the brushes in pots of orange, yellow, red and blue paint and offer the animal a carrot. The frantic movement of the tail creates on a 54 x 81 cm canvas the masterpiece titled Et le Soleil s'endormit sur l'Adriatique, signed J.R. Boronali, an anagram of Buridan's famous donkey, Aliboron.
They exhibit this Sunset at the Salon des Indépendants as a manifesto of the Excessivisme. The fruitful debates that the hoax has aroused about the meaning of art are thus a direct consequence of the artists' meetings at the Lapin Agile. Picasso's painting is a rare rendering of this environment.
Grok thought :
Quote
Alex Jacob @whoisalexjacob Apr 12, 2019
Au Lapin Agile (1904), Pablo Picasso Sold in 1989 for $40.7 million to Walter Annenberg, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.K. and publisher of TV Guide and Seventeen magazine. Bequeathed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC), where it is currently on display.
Le Lapin Agile is perfectly located in the heart of Montmartre, rue des Saules. Before 1900 its reputation had been sordid. Its name is a pun on the sign created by the cartoonist André Gill showing a happy rabbit jumping out of a pan.
Picasso arrives in Paris at the time when a new steward nicknamed Frédé organizes evenings in this cabaret during which poets, comedians and artists from Montmartre play music, sing, recite poems, chat with conviviality. Frédé plays guitar and cello.
Au Lapin Agile is an oil on canvas 100 x 100 cm painted by Picasso in 1905 on a commission from Frédé. Pablo prepares it in the graphic style of Toulouse-Lautrec's posters, without any style link either with the blue period or with the pink period. It was sold for $ 41M by Sotheby's on November 27, 1989.
The couple in the foreground, seated in front of glasses of wine, is made up of Picasso dressed as a Harlequin and of Germaine, the woman who had rejected Casagemas but was probably Pablo's mistress throughout the blue period. Behind them, Frédé plays the guitar.
Picasso's painting hung on the wall of the cabaret until 1912. It was therefore a silent witness of the most famous hoax in the history of art.
In 1910 on the cabaret terrace, the writer Roland Dorgelès accompanied by an accomplice attaches brushes to the tail of Lolo, Frédé's donkey. In the presence of a bailiff, they dip the brushes in pots of orange, yellow, red and blue paint and offer the animal a carrot. The frantic movement of the tail creates on a 54 x 81 cm canvas the masterpiece titled Et le Soleil s'endormit sur l'Adriatique, signed J.R. Boronali, an anagram of Buridan's famous donkey, Aliboron.
They exhibit this Sunset at the Salon des Indépendants as a manifesto of the Excessivisme. The fruitful debates that the hoax has aroused about the meaning of art are thus a direct consequence of the artists' meetings at the Lapin Agile. Picasso's painting is a rare rendering of this environment.
Grok thought :
Quote
Alex Jacob @whoisalexjacob Apr 12, 2019
Au Lapin Agile (1904), Pablo Picasso Sold in 1989 for $40.7 million to Walter Annenberg, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.K. and publisher of TV Guide and Seventeen magazine. Bequeathed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC), where it is currently on display.
- This post catalogs the 1989 Sotheby's auction of Pablo Picasso's 1904 Rose Period painting "Au Lapin Agile," depicting the artist and poet Max Jacob in a Montmartre cabaret, sold for $40.7 million to media magnate Walter Annenberg.
- It forms part of Jeopardy! champion Alex Jacob's trivia thread on late-1980s art market highs, where Japanese buyers fueled records like van Gogh's $82.5 million "Portrait of Dr. Gachet" the next year, signaling a speculative boom.
- The work, bequeathed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2002, remains on permanent display there, its sale price equivalent to about $100 million today amid persistent inflation in Modern art valuations.
1961 Paris Circus by DUBUFFET
Intro
Paris Circus (1961–1962) vs. L'Hourloupe (1962–1974) by Jean Dubuffet
Jean Dubuffet, a pioneer of Art Brut, created two pivotal series in the early 1960s that marked a vibrant shift from his earlier textural, earthy works. Paris Circus celebrated the chaotic energy of urban Paris, while L'Hourloupe—his longest and most expansive cycle—evolved directly from it, introducing a more abstract, psychological parallel universe.
Key Similarities
Period & Duration
Paris Circus : Short burst: ~1–2 years
L'Hourloupe : Extended: 12 years, Dubuffet's longest series
Inspiration
Paris Circus : Return to Paris after rural years; real street life, crowds, shops
L'HourloupeTelephone doodles with ballpoint pens; mental, dreamlike realm
Style
Paris Circus : Busy, crowded compositions; thick paint, naive figures, chaotic scenes
L'Hourloupe : Puzzle-like interlocking cells; continuous black outlines, hatched/striped areas; flatter, graphic
Color Palette
Paris Circus : Wide range of bright, explosive colors
L'Hourloupe : Restricted to red, blue, white (often with black outlines)
Abstraction Level
Paris Circus : Semi-figurative; recognizable urban elements (people, signs, streets)
L'Hourloupe : Highly abstract; biomorphic forms evoking a grotesque, fairy-tale parallel world
Medium Expansion
Paris Circus : Primarily paintings and gouaches
L'Hourloupe : Paintings, drawings, sculptures, architecture, performance (e.g., Coucou Bazar in 1973)
Intent
Paris Circus : Joyful depiction of everyday metropolitan chaos
L'Hourloupe : Philosophical: disrupts perception, creates alternate reality of sensation and mind
Examples from Paris Circus
These works show dense, colorful urban frenzy with scribbled figures and text.
Examples from L'Hourloupe
These feature the signature cellular, striped forms in limited colors, often verging on pure abstraction.
In summary, Paris Circus is Dubuffet's exuberant love letter to real-world Paris, while L'Hourloupe transforms that energy into a hypnotic, invented universe—marking his shift toward greater abstraction and multimedia experimentation.
Jean Dubuffet, a pioneer of Art Brut, created two pivotal series in the early 1960s that marked a vibrant shift from his earlier textural, earthy works. Paris Circus celebrated the chaotic energy of urban Paris, while L'Hourloupe—his longest and most expansive cycle—evolved directly from it, introducing a more abstract, psychological parallel universe.
Key Similarities
- Chronological and stylistic transition — L'Hourloupe emerged from experiments during the final phase of Paris Circus. Early Hourloupe works retain urban themes (streets, figures) but stylize them further.
- Urban inspiration and energy — Both capture the frenetic bustle of Parisian life—people, traffic, shops—with a sense of joie de vivre and movement.
- Vibrant color and spontaneity — They feature bold, celebratory palettes and impulsive, graffiti-like mark-making, reflecting Dubuffet's raw, anti-academic approach.
- Influence on later art — Both heralded urban pop aesthetics, influencing artists like Basquiat.
Period & Duration
Paris Circus : Short burst: ~1–2 years
L'Hourloupe : Extended: 12 years, Dubuffet's longest series
Inspiration
Paris Circus : Return to Paris after rural years; real street life, crowds, shops
L'HourloupeTelephone doodles with ballpoint pens; mental, dreamlike realm
Style
Paris Circus : Busy, crowded compositions; thick paint, naive figures, chaotic scenes
L'Hourloupe : Puzzle-like interlocking cells; continuous black outlines, hatched/striped areas; flatter, graphic
Color Palette
Paris Circus : Wide range of bright, explosive colors
L'Hourloupe : Restricted to red, blue, white (often with black outlines)
Abstraction Level
Paris Circus : Semi-figurative; recognizable urban elements (people, signs, streets)
L'Hourloupe : Highly abstract; biomorphic forms evoking a grotesque, fairy-tale parallel world
Medium Expansion
Paris Circus : Primarily paintings and gouaches
L'Hourloupe : Paintings, drawings, sculptures, architecture, performance (e.g., Coucou Bazar in 1973)
Intent
Paris Circus : Joyful depiction of everyday metropolitan chaos
L'Hourloupe : Philosophical: disrupts perception, creates alternate reality of sensation and mind
Examples from Paris Circus
These works show dense, colorful urban frenzy with scribbled figures and text.
Examples from L'Hourloupe
These feature the signature cellular, striped forms in limited colors, often verging on pure abstraction.
In summary, Paris Circus is Dubuffet's exuberant love letter to real-world Paris, while L'Hourloupe transforms that energy into a hypnotic, invented universe—marking his shift toward greater abstraction and multimedia experimentation.
1
Summer 1961 Les Grandes Artères
2016 SOLD for $ 24M by Christie's
Jean Dubuffet states that it is expected from an artist that he shall not duplicate what had been previously done by others. His own style and themes are highly original and reach their culmination in 1961 when he rediscovers Paris after spending several years in the provinces.
This series is entitled Paris-Circus, where circus has not the meaning of a show but instead of a frenetic activity. In a surrounding of exuberant colors, people are dull, without personality, each one in his box like within a game of the goose and they do not communicate. The drawing is resolutely naive.
Paris Polka evokes dancing rooms and pleasures. This oil on canvas 190 x 220 cm was sold for $ 25M by Christie's on May 11, 2015.
Humor comes back even bitter in Les Grandes Artères, oil on canvas 114 x 146 cm, sold for $ 24M from a lower estimate of $ 15M by Christie's on November 15, 2016, lot 17 A. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The composition is made in three parallel registers successively showing the roadway, the sidewalk and the dense urban pattern of shops and buildings.
In the foreground, each driver is alone in his car, stuck in traffic jam and stuck in his attitude. The childish figure is reinforced by identifying the brand of the vehicle and its license plate.
The titles of the shops are countless puns. Their often incongruous identification remind that the big city is a threat to the individual : A l'issue fatale (fatal outcome), Faillite (bankruptcy), Fruits et légumes du désespoir (Fruits and vegetables of despair). Poetry is not absent : Fin de saison (end of season) is in line with Salaisons (salted meat). The artist adds his recommendations : Buvez froid (drink cold), Urinez souvent (urinate frequently).
This series is entitled Paris-Circus, where circus has not the meaning of a show but instead of a frenetic activity. In a surrounding of exuberant colors, people are dull, without personality, each one in his box like within a game of the goose and they do not communicate. The drawing is resolutely naive.
Paris Polka evokes dancing rooms and pleasures. This oil on canvas 190 x 220 cm was sold for $ 25M by Christie's on May 11, 2015.
Humor comes back even bitter in Les Grandes Artères, oil on canvas 114 x 146 cm, sold for $ 24M from a lower estimate of $ 15M by Christie's on November 15, 2016, lot 17 A. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The composition is made in three parallel registers successively showing the roadway, the sidewalk and the dense urban pattern of shops and buildings.
In the foreground, each driver is alone in his car, stuck in traffic jam and stuck in his attitude. The childish figure is reinforced by identifying the brand of the vehicle and its license plate.
The titles of the shops are countless puns. Their often incongruous identification remind that the big city is a threat to the individual : A l'issue fatale (fatal outcome), Faillite (bankruptcy), Fruits et légumes du désespoir (Fruits and vegetables of despair). Poetry is not absent : Fin de saison (end of season) is in line with Salaisons (salted meat). The artist adds his recommendations : Buvez froid (drink cold), Urinez souvent (urinate frequently).
2
Late 1961 Paris Polka
2015 SOLD for $ 25M by Christie's
Jean Dubuffet is a wholesale wine merchant in Le Havre. Fascinated by the roots of art, he does not need any academicism. He early becomes the herald of a resolutely anti-cultural approach, promoting the art of the mentally ill without hiding his own difficult character.
He creates his own artistic style based on trivial and pun. He complacently adds an earthiness that perfectly suits his need to shock. He surprises by his difference and becomes a famous artist.
After several years in the provinces, Dubuffet rediscovered Paris in 1961. The big city appears as a capital of the joie de vivre, the last place where Hemingway had tried to lead a festive life.
The artist interprets Paris in his way in his series of paintings Paris Circus. Paris Polka was sold for $ 25M by Christie's on May 11, 2015, lot 22A.
This large oil on canvas 190 x 220 cm, may be read like a tourist guide with facades and names of dancing halls symbolized by boxes filled with a dancing character. One of these signs, L'Entourloupe (the rotten trick), is anticipating the unprecedented and untranslatable pun that will define the next series of his art (l'Hourloupe).
In the same year, other paintings show Parisian buses fully loaded by his stylized figures, passing signs of various trades in the street. Trinité - Champs Elysées, 116 x 89 cm, was sold for $ 6.1M by Sotheby's on 11 November 2009. Gare Montparnasse - Porte des Lilas, 165 x 217 cm, was sold for $ 4.7M by Christie's on May 14, 2002.
He creates his own artistic style based on trivial and pun. He complacently adds an earthiness that perfectly suits his need to shock. He surprises by his difference and becomes a famous artist.
After several years in the provinces, Dubuffet rediscovered Paris in 1961. The big city appears as a capital of the joie de vivre, the last place where Hemingway had tried to lead a festive life.
The artist interprets Paris in his way in his series of paintings Paris Circus. Paris Polka was sold for $ 25M by Christie's on May 11, 2015, lot 22A.
This large oil on canvas 190 x 220 cm, may be read like a tourist guide with facades and names of dancing halls symbolized by boxes filled with a dancing character. One of these signs, L'Entourloupe (the rotten trick), is anticipating the unprecedented and untranslatable pun that will define the next series of his art (l'Hourloupe).
In the same year, other paintings show Parisian buses fully loaded by his stylized figures, passing signs of various trades in the street. Trinité - Champs Elysées, 116 x 89 cm, was sold for $ 6.1M by Sotheby's on 11 November 2009. Gare Montparnasse - Porte des Lilas, 165 x 217 cm, was sold for $ 4.7M by Christie's on May 14, 2002.
Comparison: Paris Polka (1961) and Les Grandes Artères (1961) by Jean Dubuffet
Both paintings belong to Dubuffet's iconic Paris Circus series (1961–1962), created upon his return to Paris after years in the countryside. This series captures the chaotic, vibrant energy of urban life with naive, scribbled figures, bold colors, thick impasto, and a sense of joyful frenzy—celebrating everyday Parisian bustle as a "circus" of human activity.
Key Details
Dimensions7
Paris Polka : 74¾ × 86½ in. (190 × 220 cm) – one of the largest in the series
Grandes Artères : 44¾ × 57½ in. (113.7 × 146 cm) – mid-sized
Execution DateL
Paris Polka : Late 1961
Grandes Artères : July–August 1961
Auction
Paris Polka : Christie's New York, May 11, 2015 (Lot 22A)
Grandes Artères : Christie's New York, November 15, 2016 (Lot 17A)
Sale Price$
Paris Polka : $24,805,000 (set artist's record at the time)
Grandes Artères : $23,767,500 (later became the second-highest)
Provenance Highlight
Paris Polka : From prominent private collections; exhibited widely
Grandes Artères : Long-held in one American private collection since 1964; last public appearance 1973 (Guggenheim retrospective)
Stylistic and Thematic Comparison
Les Grandes Artères – Bustling boulevard with witty storefront satire:
In summary, these are among the finest examples of Paris Circus—Paris Polka stands out for its epic scale and rhythmic exuberance (long the auction record holder), while Les Grandes Artères excels in compositional boldness and satirical edge. Together, they exemplify Dubuffet's triumphant rediscovery of Paris as a site of raw, vital human theater.
Both paintings belong to Dubuffet's iconic Paris Circus series (1961–1962), created upon his return to Paris after years in the countryside. This series captures the chaotic, vibrant energy of urban life with naive, scribbled figures, bold colors, thick impasto, and a sense of joyful frenzy—celebrating everyday Parisian bustle as a "circus" of human activity.
Key Details
Dimensions7
Paris Polka : 74¾ × 86½ in. (190 × 220 cm) – one of the largest in the series
Grandes Artères : 44¾ × 57½ in. (113.7 × 146 cm) – mid-sized
Execution DateL
Paris Polka : Late 1961
Grandes Artères : July–August 1961
Auction
Paris Polka : Christie's New York, May 11, 2015 (Lot 22A)
Grandes Artères : Christie's New York, November 15, 2016 (Lot 17A)
Sale Price$
Paris Polka : $24,805,000 (set artist's record at the time)
Grandes Artères : $23,767,500 (later became the second-highest)
Provenance Highlight
Paris Polka : From prominent private collections; exhibited widely
Grandes Artères : Long-held in one American private collection since 1964; last public appearance 1973 (Guggenheim retrospective)
Stylistic and Thematic Comparison
- Similarities:
- Both depict dense, crowded street scenes with anonymous, childlike figures, cars, storefronts, and scrawled text—evoking the postwar resurgence of Paris.
- Vibrant, explosive palettes with thick, gestural paint application; naive, graffiti-like lines; satirical wit toward consumerism.
- Figures are flattened and impersonal, blending into the urban chaos, reflecting Dubuffet's anti-academic, Art Brut-inspired rejection of polish.
- High energy and optimism: everyday life as a celebratory spectacle.
- Differences:
- Scale and Composition: Paris Polka's monumental size amplifies the overwhelming frenzy, creating a more immersive "kaleidoscopic" chaos with rhythmic, dance-like patterns (evoking a "polka"). Les Grandes Artères focuses on a shop-lined boulevard ("great arteries" as main thoroughfares), with sharper satirical elements like invented storefronts mocking commerce.
- Mood and Focus: Paris Polka emphasizes playful rhythm and modernity, with abstract, musical motifs. Les Grandes Artères has a slightly more structured urban layout, highlighting social satire and the flow of city "traffic" (people, vehicles).
- Transitional Hints: Both from the series' peak, but Paris Polka (later in 1961) shows subtle foreshadowing of the flatter, cellular Hourloupe style emerging in 1962.
Les Grandes Artères – Bustling boulevard with witty storefront satire:
In summary, these are among the finest examples of Paris Circus—Paris Polka stands out for its epic scale and rhythmic exuberance (long the auction record holder), while Les Grandes Artères excels in compositional boldness and satirical edge. Together, they exemplify Dubuffet's triumphant rediscovery of Paris as a site of raw, vital human theater.
